What, Did You Think It Was a Cyclops?
by JohnnynotSid
Summary: The Thundercats are in panic as the sword stops obeying Lion-o. His insecurities and anger reach a boiling point. When a stranger appears,they are faced with a great sacrifice and are forced to face the ugly truth about that which they hold dear.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I wrote this fic partially because despite loving the cartoon, I was always very put off by the rampant and accepted classism inherent in the story. Also, I wanted to address some plot-holes in the story, some of which were understandable given that this was a kid's show, some of which were not so understandable.

I also wrote this because it always bothered me how blatant a plagiarism Jaga was of Obi-wan Kenobi, so I want to make his character as unlike Obi-Wan as possible.

Chapter One:

"I don't know what we're going to do."

Lion-o looked down at the Sword of Omens lying on his lap. For the first time in a long time, Lion-o had to try really hard not to cry. The sword had once been his life-line, his greatest ally. Now it had turned against him.

Recently, for reasons no one could understand, Lion-o had lost control of the sword. It stopped sending out the Thundercats signal every time Lion-o summoned them, at first only a couple of times, but it's failure to do so was increasing daily and now getting it to work properly was a miracle. Other times, it flew from Lion-o and stuck itself in the ground and Lion-o would have to wait for it to decide to come out to get it again. It stopped giving him his sight beyond sight more and more too. It would even fight against Lion-o's movements when he fought with it, sometimes angling itself in the opposite direction Lion-o was wielding it, sometimes growing too heavy for Lion-o to even lift it, sometimes even shrinking its blade down to the size of a butter knife. Even more mysteriously, whenever Lion-o put it away in its spot in the weapons room, it would disappear and show up in places farther and farther away each time. Everyone swore up and down that they were not doing it, and they had gone after all the usual enemies to see if they were up to something, but nothing. They put surveillance cameras in the weapons room, and to their shock found that the sword was moving on its own, figuring out how to operate the doors and floating away, and always in the same direction.

"It's almost like… It's trying to run away." Lion-o said. "I just can't figure out."

He was terrified, not just for himself but for the others as well. In every battle, the sword's power had always come through at the end when all other hope had been lost. Whenever Lion-o was at the end of his rope, he had the Eye of Thundera to save him. Without it, what was he? Sure, he had made it through the trials without it, but almost all of that was blind luck. Without their weapons, the others still had great advantages. Panthro had his strength, Tygra had his brain, Cheetara had her speed, the kittens had their agility and cunning as well as each other. What did Lion-o have that was special? Yes, he was Lord of the Thundercats, but that was mostly because he was the master of the sword and had the right parents. Now he couldn't control the sword, where did that leave him? Yes, he was the one who was supposed to, and always could, protect the Thundercats, but that was because of the sword. Otherwise, what kind of leader could he really be? Technically, he was actually younger than the twins by a year. He had the mind of an eleven-year-old and the body of a grown cat. He was so often foolish, reckless, thoughtless, he couldn't see things coming or be a voice of reason like Cheetara, and wasn't really sure he matched her at courage, either, couldn't build machines and wasn't as good at hand-to-hand combat as Panthro, he didn't know anything about science or building things like Tygra and he certainly wasn't as smart. He couldn't heal people like Pumyra, or deal with metal like Ben-Gal. He wasn't as clever, adventurous, or agile as the twins and wasn't nearly as good at planning and planting traps. He often did and said mean and hurtful things without meaning to, abused Snarf, and people always had to tell him to be mindful of his ego. What kind of leader was he, really? He wasn't worthy to lead the Thundercats and never was. All he could ever bring to the table was his sword.

Without it, the Thundercats were incredibly vulnerable. Their greatest weapon was gone and with it went their leader's confidence.

They all sat around the conference table, all of them too scared to speak. Part of it was their fear of making everyone else, especially Lion-o, feel worse. But the real reason was none of them really could think of anything to help either the mood or the actual situation.

The silence lasted over an hour, with all of them just staring at each other until finally, Wileykit lost it. "Ahhhhhh, fuck!" She yelled, banging her fist down on the table. "Where the fuck is Jaga?"

"Kit! Language!" Cheetara admonished her. "You should know better than to use language like that, especially when talking about Jaga!"

All the rest of them just gaped at her, but Wileykit didn't back down.

"I'm not going to apologize because I'm not sorry." She insisted. "I have no reason to be and I'm only saying what everyone is afraid to say. It needs to be said. Jaga promised to always be with us and give us counsel when we were at the end of our rope. But now, when we need him most, he doesn't show. The dead bastard abandoned us in our time of most need—"

"Kit, that is enough." Panthro said, but she didn't listen.

"And you know what else? I think he purposely kept stuff from us, I do. I mean, he knew everything there is to know about the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera. He knew more about that damn things than any of us ever knew about anything. He had to have known something like this could happen, but does he warn us? No-"

"Stop it, Kit!" Tygra said, raising his voice, but she kept going.

"-Does he tell us anything? No. Does he leave any information that could help us out in situations like this? No. Instead, he just shows up at the last minute whenever he wanted to give us a tidbit of information that we probably could have used earlier to avoid almost getting killed in the first place. And you know what? That's stupid. That's painfully stupid. That's fucking idiotic on a level that outdoes Kat and I when we stole and played around with your weapons—"

"Kit, please!" Kat begged her.

"Shut up, Kat. You know what? I don't think that level of stupidity is possible, at least not for him. As mad as I am at Jaga, I won't call him an idiot because he was always smarter than all of us put together and tripled. No, he chose to do things this way because he didn't want to die, he wanted an excuse to keep coming back to the living world, even if it was only as a ghost, so he purposely kept us dependent on him and the amount of information he could have given us—"

"KIT, STOP IT RIGHT NOW—Snarf." Snarf said.

"No, I didn't just suddenly come to this conclusion because I'm fucking pissed, I've been thinking about this for a long time and it's the only logical explanation I can think of. Jaga was fucking too afraid to move on, and was willing to risk us, the last of our race to avoid doing it-"

"Wileykit, if you say one more word…." Pumyra said.

"-Now I'm guessing he either is afraid of facing me because I've figured it out, he's finally moved on and was too anxious once he was ready to take the time to give us the rest of what we needed, or he's afraid to help us with this for some reason."

"LITTLE KITTEN, I ORDER YOU AS LORD OF THE THUNDERCATS-"

She turned to Lion-o. "I don't give me that fucking 'Little Kitten' shit, Lion-o. In case you've forgotten, I'm not just older than Kat, I'm technically older than you as well. Don't think just because you're bigger than me that you know better because at the end of the day, you're still just an overgrown kitten. You should be even more pissed at Jaga than I am, because he screwed you over more than anyone. He gave you, a child, the responsibility to lead our dying race and how did he prepare you? Oh, right, he gave you a sword and put you into a suspension chamber that ended up aging you anyway then randomly started appearing to you and no one else, giving you advice way too late and making you look like a schizophrenic in the process. You're twenty-six years old, Lion-o, you don't know who your family was, you don't have the foggiest idea as to how the old Thunderan government worked, you've never learned about business, laws, or any forms of actual government or how they work. You have no diplomacy skills other than simple charm. You have no idea how the Eye gets its power, how the sword works, or how it was used before you had it. In every conflict we've had, you've been forced to call on us to save you, relying on the sword again. And that's not the only way you've had to rely on others. You've been dependent on others your whole life! You needed Tygra to build us a home, Panthro for transportation, Cheetara to warn you of pretty much everything and lead us into a plan. Why do you think Snarf still follows you around? Do you think he puts up with your bullshit and risks his life because it's a habit? No, it's because he's afraid that if he didn't, you'd end up killing yourself or offending someone in the dumbest way imaginable. Without him, you wouldn't remember to feed yourself or bathe. You don't know how half the technology we possess works, and, because you spend so much of your time out looking for adventure, you usually have no idea about the daily goings-on around this place. You've been hanging on by a thread ever since we landed here and why? Because Jaga never bothered to properly train you so you'd know what to do if the sword ever failed you. He set you up for failure, made you feel dependent on a fucking weapon, and never cared enough to leave behind something or someone who could teach you because he was an arrogant, short-sided, proud—"

Before he knew it, Lion-o had slapped her as hard as he could, sending her flying into the security console.

"Kit!" Wileykat cried, running over to where his sister landed. He knelt down and helped her up, looking at Lion-o with more hate than Lion-o had ever seen someone give him, more even than Mum-ra. Kit shook her head in confusion for a second, then clutched her face, looking at Lion-o in fear.

Despite the fierce rage Lion-o still felt for Wileykit, the looks on the Thunderkitten's faces still shook him. No matter how mad he was, he still loved them dearly, that they should hate him was painful, that they should fear him was excruciating. He couldn't bear to look at them, so he looked away.

"Get out of here, go back to your room and don't come out until I give you permission."

Wileykat helped Kit walk to the door, but before he opened it for her, she turned around again.

"Jaga is still not here, despite everything I said about him," she said, looking determined. "And you know what? There's another way he completely screwed us over that I can't believe none of you haven't thought of before. There are nine of us. NINE. Only three of us are female. THREE. One of them, me, is young enough to be the daughter of any of the males here, excluding the one who happens to be my twin brother. How the hell do you people fucking expect us to be able to rebuild our population? Right now, we have only two people capable of bearing children. Eventually I should be able to, but that could still go wrong. Males outnumber females three to one. Males can father hundreds of children with no problem, there are only so many kids a woman can push out. Even if we do manage to reproduce, I'll have to mate with males twice my age, I was probably meant to mate with Lion-o due to my age, but thanks to the chamber malfunctioning it really doesn't matter anymore, and you know what else? Because of the scarcity potential mothers, the amount of differing genes will be so limited our descendents will end up being forced to mate with their cousins and have children that are horribly inbred. That's right, because of our population and male to female ratio, a result of the crew that Jaga hand-picked, I might add, and could have expanded had he not decided packing crates of toys were more important, our race is doomed to declining intellect, mental defects, and physical deformities. Oh, and since six of us come from the aristocracy, our ancestors probably already got the ball rolling as far as inbreeding goes. So even if we do get the sword working again, which we won't, it won't matter much because our grandchildren will be too stupid to know how to hold the fucking thing anyway. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She left the room with Kat. All of them looked at each other in shock and fear.

"By the Eye of Thundera, she's right…." Tygra said, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. "The possibility of nine members of the same species able to produce an entire race is extremely small. The only groups that small who have managed to produce a healthy race are ones where females were the majority. Maybe in a blue moon a male majority by one could work, but I don't even know if that could be possible. Males outnumbering women three to one? I don't even have to calculate very far to know there's not a chance in Hell."

"What about the warrior women?" Panthro asked. "They mate with human men of Third Earth to continue their line. They wouldn't be full blooded Thundercats, but at least they won't all be related. What if we mated with them?"

Tygra shook his head. "Wouldn't work. The definition of a species is a group of creatures able to produce offspring that are capable of producing their own offspring. They're a different species than us, close, but we're still two different animals. Trust me, it's been tried. You can cross-breed a horse and a donkey, but then all you get is a sterile or barren mule. We'd create a generational dead-end. And even if it did work, the Warrior Women would let us have the boys, but they'd keep the girls for their own. I can't believe it never occurred to me before…"

"I can't believe it occurred to Kit, Snarf Snarf."

Tygra looked at the others closely. "And the details of it too… Did anyone know Kit was that intelligent?"

All of them shook their heads.

"I've actually thought the opposite, to tell you the truth," Lynx-o said, "There have often been times where Kat has said or done or failed to understand something that has made me think, 'That boy has very little going on between his ears.'"

"I hate to say it, but me too." Tygra said.

"Guilty as well," added Cheetara.

"And you've had similar experiences with Kit?" Pumyra asked. "Because I've never witnessed anything to make me think she wasn't very smart."

They all looked around, shaking their heads.

"I guess we're so used to them as a pair that we started thinking of them as pretty much the same person," admitted Ben-Gali.

"Still, her outburst was unacceptable and completely inexcusable!" Lion-o declared.

They all looked at each other again.

"Lion-o, Kit is a teenage girl, a very scared, confused teenage girl," said Cheetara, "When you're that age things are absolutely insane. You don't remember because you skipped that part of your life. And for girls, it's even harder because we go through even more drastic changes and are expected not to be as open about them as boys and in some cases are expected to be ashamed of them. We also have to deal with a societal pressure men don't have to deal with: we're judged sometimes solely on our appearance to an extreme degree and are often looked at as sex objects, our male peers usually judging all our worth on how attractive we are. We have to start doing so many ridiculous things to be deemed presentable and have to deal with all new types of pains and discomforts we can't do anything about and have to accept as a routine part of our lives. Usually we get through it by confiding in other young women going through the same thing, but Kit doesn't have anyone. She just has her brother, who doesn't understand. The two of them have always been a packaged deal and were basically each other's other half. They did everything together and were so much alike I doubt even they could conceive being independent from each other. But now that things are changing, the differences between her and her brother are growing more and more apparent and it's scary for her. And, apparently, all this time she's been making rather grim observations and keeping them to herself. Now, she's no longer a little kitten, no longer exactly like her brother, and our greatest weapon, the thing we've always counted on is no longer working. Everything she has ever known is being turned upside down. She probably has no idea what's real anymore. She's trying to figure it all out and it's getting to be too much. It's no wonder she had an outburst."

"It was pretty shocking, but now that I think about it, it's not so surprising," mused Pumyra.

"Also…. Some of the stuff she said- And I'm not trying to bother you Lion-o- actually makes a Hell of a lot of sense now that I think about it." Tygra said. Panthro, Pumyra, Cheetara, Lynx-o and Ben-Gali all nodded.

"What do you mean? You actually agree with the stuff she said about Jaga?" Lion-o demanded.

"Not all of it, Lion-o," Cheetara assured him, "But, the fact is, there was a lot that Jaga neglected to tell us which we could definitely have benefitted from knowing. He could have at least left us some of the information, such as books or writings or something, but he didn't and he should have."

"And, you know, he usually does wait until the last minute to tell us some crucial detail that could save us," added Panthro.

"And, let's face it, you weren't really prepared to be Lord of the Thundercats when we landed here. Of course, that's on us too." Tygra said.

"There is still a lot you have to learn," agreed Lynx-o

Lion-o felt the rage burning inside him. No! They were wrong! Jaga did everything right! He did everything he could and was the greatest mentor he or any of them could have hoped for! How could they say these things?

"And, like she said, he's not here when we need him the most," stated Ben-Gali grimly. "I mean, you can't deny that, Lion-o. None of us have seen or heard from him in a long time."

Lion-o got up. "I'm not listening to this. I'm going out."

"But Lion-o…" Cheetara trailed off. She was going to point out that it would be dangerous since the sword wasn't working, but decided against it. After what he did to Wileykit, she really didn't want to set him off again.

Lion-o stormed out of the room. There were a few minutes of dead silence and staring, until Pumyra decided she was sick of silence and staring. That's half of what they did all day.

"What he did to Kit… He didn't even seem sorry about it. What kind of grown tomcat strikes a girl-kitten?"

"I can understand how he feels, but there is no excuse for it. We have to do something. I am worried about her safety," Panthro replied, "And not just hers, Kat's as well. And even you, Cheetara, and Pumyra, you as well. I realize he's still not quite a man yet, but he should have been taught never to strike a woman or child when he was a cub."

"Just another thing Jaga neglected to teach him, I guess." Tygra said. "Cheetara, Pumyra, I know you're not going to like this, but I think it would be a good idea to have you and the kittens move to the tower for a little while."

"What, you actually think he could hit me?" Cheetara replied, annoyed, "When was the last time anyone was fast enough to hit me?"

"Please, Cheetara, he's obviously unstable at this point, I'd feel better if-"

"No."

"Cheetara, he's—"

"No."

"It could be-"

"No."

"You don't-"

"No. And once again, no. Now shut up. I am not going to run and hide because I happen to lack a penis. It is insulting to me and to my entire gender. I can understand Pumyra and the kittens but I don't need to leave. I can more than handle Lion-o. Does he have warped views as to what's acceptable behavior towards women and children? Yes. He doesn't understand how serious a trespass it is to strike either. But he didn't hit Kit because he hates women or because he hates children. He did it because he was enraged, didn't like what she was saying, knew she would not be able to fight back, and because he views her, being both female and a kitten, as a lesser being and therefore not a real person, acceptable to strike."

"I don't like where this is going, that's a slippery slope to blaming her." Pumyra said.

"Of course it's not her fault." Cheetara snapped impatiently. "It's not her fault at all. A part of me is actually proud of her. Lion-o did what he did because he would not control himself, because of his bad attitude, and because he was cowardly enough to think he could get away with hitting a young girl. I have been sensing a violent rage within him for a few days now, he was going to do it to someone eventually. Kit, unfortunately, was the one in his line of fire when it finally erupted. Abusers abuse because they have internal issues and think they have a right to view others as below them and would rather cause harm to that person to reflect the their own suffering than deal with the issues in a constructive way. Lion-o is a young man, a leader, and feels as if he has been weakened. He wants to prove that he's strong, and when you're angry, lost and scared, you tend to pick violence as the outlet to display this supposed strength. He rationalizes it by viewing the victim of his violence as a lesser, weaker being and therefore, not a real person, so to him, it's not as if he hurt a real person."

"Cowardly." Lynx-o grunted.

"Yes, it is, it is very cowardly, but it's the only way Lion-o can defend his actions to himself. We have to tackle not only his problems, but his issues dealing with them, as well as his obviously skewed perceptions of others. He decided Kit was lesser because of sex and size. We need to tackle each prejudice individually. If he sees all the women run and hide from him, it's only going to further confirm his perception that women are weaker, and therefore, lesser. We need to challenge this perception, he needs to be exposed to a strong, smart, capable example of femininity that is not afraid of him, intimidated by him, and can handle him. I can do all these things. Lion-o couldn't hurt me physically, I'm too fast for him. And I'm also the best person to help him with his issues. When he sees not only the example I set, but also experiences me helping him get back on his feet and regain his confidence, he'll gain greater respect for my gender altogether because it was a woman who helped him through his crisis. He'll never think of females as lesser or even consider trying to hurt them again."

"But what about his perception of size and age? How will we deal with that?"

"Well, we could start by impressing upon him his actual age for once." Panthro suggested. "As Kit said, he is technically younger than the kittens, even if he doesn't look it. And since he doesn't have the sword anymore, we could have him take on the Kittens' weapons instead and have the kittens teach him to use them."

"That's actually a pretty good idea," commented Ben-Gali. "But will Kit be up for it?"

"If she's not, we'll have Wileykat do it by himself." Cheetara decided. "He might not like it, but he'll do it if we tell him it's to help his sister. I think Lynx-o and Ben-Gali should go to the tower with Pumyra and the Kittens as well. We don't want to call attention to the particular groups of people we're sending there."

"Alright," agreed Ben-Gali. "But when shall we start all this?"

"Yeah, and what about the sword? We still have that problem to deal with." Tygra reminded them.

"I don't know. We will have to think of something, but in the meantime, sitting around and staring isn't helping much, we might as well attend to the problem we can deal with until we come up with a solution to the one we can't." Pumyra answered.

"Agreed." They all said in unison.

"Why don't you all leave with the kittens tonight?" Tygra said, "I still feel a little uneasy about their safety."

"That sounds fine," replied Lynx-o, "Pumyra, why don't you go to their rooms and tell them?"

"Okay, in the meantime, why don't one of you go out and follow Lion-o in case he gets into trouble? I'm worried about his safety too." Pumyra said, getting up from her seat.

"Good idea," said Tygra, "I'll go, I'm best at stealth, after all."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

It was a beautiful day on Third Earth, but Lion-o couldn't appreciate it as he helped Panthro give the Thunder Tank a tune-up, not with all the worries on his mind. With the sword on the fritz, they needed all their other weaponry and machinery in top shape to fend off any upcoming attacks. As he worked, Lion-o kept glancing down at the sword, as if he expected it to explode at any minute. As time went on, he started to wonder if maybe his mind was playing tricks on him, because he was starting to notice a glow coming off of it.

"Lion-o," Panthro said to the young lord, squinting at him, "Is the sword glowing?"

"You mean you see it too?" Lion-o asked, excitedly, "I thought I was just imagining it!"

"I thought it was just a trick of the light, but it's really glowing!" Panthro replied excitedly. "Quick, make a command of it!"

Lion-o took the sword and put the hilt up to his eyes. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!"

The sword didn't do that. Instead, it wrenched itself from his hands and flew into the trees. Terrified, Lion-o and Panthro followed it.

About a hundred yards into the woods, they found the sword—in the hands of someone else.

She appeared to be a Thunderian. Humanoid, with pointed ears at the top of her head peeking out from a mane of black hair, tawny fur with black rosettes. But she was much taller than they were, had violet eyes, and had a tail. She was dressed in emerald green Capri pants, a green top with elbow-length sleeve and a square neckline, a green cape and small boots. Slung over her shoulder was a messenger bag, strapped to each hip were two katanas, and slung over her back were a bow and arrows. She was holding the sword up to her face, examining it closely, before looking straight at Lion-o and Panthro, beaming.

"I haven't seen this thing in centuries. It really brings back memories, you know?"

Now knowing that she could see the two of them, Panthro and Lion-o came out of the bushes.

"Who are you?" Lion-o demanded, not at all happy to see this stranger.

She put the sword down and extended her hand towards them. "My name is Ocelth, of Neo-Thundera.

Lion-o didn't like the look in her eyes as she observed them. It was almost like she was saddened by their appearance. Panthro shook her hand.

"I am Panthro, a Thundercat of Thundera."

Lion-o followed suit. "I am Lion-o, Lord of the Thundercats."

There was a glint in her eye, as if she found this funny.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," She said.

Lion-o hadn't missed her mention of her home. What the Hell was Neo-Thundera? Why had the sword come to her?

"I'm sorry," Lion-o said, "But I'm afraid we still don't know who you are. I would like to have my sword back, if you please."

She handed it over without any resistance. "Knock yourself out."

"How did it come to your hand?" Lion-o asked suspiciously.

"Well, it used to belong to me, for one thing. And it probably wanted to be re-united with its sister." She replied casually. Lion-o's eyes widened.

"Its… sister? Are you sure you know what this is? This is the eye of Thundera!" Lion-o insisted. He was becoming more and more confused by the minute and he really did not like that.

"Is that what you call it?" She replied. "I mean, sure, it is _an_ Eye of Thundera, but it's hardly _the_ Eye of Thundera."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lion-o asked. "Are you saying there are other eyes?"

"There is _one_ other eye, yes," Ocelth replied simply. "You didn't think our old planet was a Cyclops, did you? What you've got right there is the Right Eye of Thundera. And this-" She pulled her necklace out from under her shirt, "—is the Left Eye of Thundera."

Panthro and Lion-o stared in astonishment. Hanging from the platinum chain around her neck was a medallion that looked almost identical to the eye on the sword, except the Cat's head was facing the other way. It was flashing with a golden light, much like the eye on the sword was doing.

"Those two haven't seen each other in centuries," remarked Ocelth sadly.

"If that is really another eye…." Panthro said. "Then how do you have it?"

"I used to possess both eyes," answered Ocelth, "I tried to leave them both behind, but this one wouldn't let me go. I think Jaga probably knew."

"Jaga?" Lion-o said in shock. "You knew Jaga? How do you know Jaga?"

"He used to be my surrogate," answered Ocelth. "That was a long time ago, though."

"You don't look old enough to know Jaga," Lion-o commented.

She snorted. "Yeah, well, we found a way to halt the aging process on Neo-Thundera a long time ago. I'm actually over five hundred years old. I knew Jaga during the first eighteen years of my life. Or, at least, I thought I knew him."

"That's impossible!" Lion-o said angrily. "Jaga only died a few years ago! Thunderans do not live that long!"

"They do if they have found a way to switch to a new body every time their current one died," replied Ocelth grimly. "Jaga was a re-inhabitor. Every time his body was about to die, he just transported his mind and soul to a new, young one. What, you didn't know that?"

Both of them shook their heads.

"I don't believe you," Lion-o said, "I don't believe what you're saying about Jaga, I don't believe you're really that old, and I don't believe that's another eye of Thundera. I don't know who you are, but you had better explain yourself fast before I lose my patience."

Panthro looked at Lion-o with a great deal of concern and fear. He did not like how this was heading.

"Hey, hold on now," he said in the most genial voice he could muster, "Let's not get excited! Lion-o, maybe she is telling the truth, maybe she's lying, or maybe she's confused. There's no need to get angry. Now, Miss, is there any way you can prove that what you're saying is true. No offense meant, of course, but you are a stranger and the things you are saying are pretty amazing."

Ocelth held her hands up. "No offense taken. I'd be suspicious if I were you too. What kind of technology do you have?"

Panthro smiled. "We have machines that I am quite proud of salvaged from our escape ship."

"Do you have elemental, health, chronological and energy scanners?" She asked.

"Of course we do!"

"Good," she said, smiling. "Then all you have to do is run some tests. Put me through the health and chronological scanner, it'll tell you how old I am. Run the left eye through the chrono, energy and elemental scanners, and it will tell you it is almost identical and contains just as much power as your eye. It shouldn't be too difficult. It'll take a few hours, but when you've lived as long as I have, you learn patience. Now, where to?"

Lion-o and Panthro led her to Cat's Lair. She looked up at it with an appraising eye. "Huh, mid-fourth era mixed with seventh era cameo style. Interesting aesthetics."

"That's exactly what I was going for!"

Tygra came up to the trio, looking at Ocelth in fascination. "Who is this?"

"This is Ocelth," Panthro said, "She claims to come from a place called Neo-Thundera."

"That's not all she claims," Lion-o said. "Tygra, you won't believe the things this girl has told us!"

"I'm really, really not a girl," Ocelth deadpanned. "Like, really, really, not a girl."

"You look like a girl!" Tygra said, his eyes wide.

"I'm a woman, much too old to be called a girl. But you'll find out all about that in a few hours."

Panthro pressed with the remote to have the bridge form. Lion-o turned to Ocelth.

"I must ask that you surrender your weapons." He said in his most authoritative voice.

Ocelth shrugged. She handed them over without complaint. "Just make sure I get them back in the same condition they're in now."

"I can't believe it!"

Tygra bounded into the council chamber, holding several pieces of paper.

"What?" Cheetara asked.

"It's true! It's all true!" Tygra said, "According to my calculations, all the cells in her body are seventy-eighth generation! Your body reproduces a completely new set of cells over the course of seven years, and that has happened to her at least seventy-eight times! That makes her at least five hundred and forty-six years old!"

"By Thundera!" Lion-o cried. Tygra shoved the papers in front of the young lord.

"Take a look, the test results are clear. And she was telling the truth about her eye, too. It's made up of exactly the same materials and contains exactly the same amount and type of energy as the sword of Omens! It's another eye!"

"Beware!"

The cats all looked around. To their utter elation and shock, Jaga's ghost stood before them.

"Beware of Ocelth, defector, traitor, and rebel of the Thundercats!" Jaga said.

"Jaga, we need your help, the sword isn't working anymore, we're desperate!" Lion-o said.

"Beware of Ocelth, you must make her see the error of her ways and repent!" Jaga bellowed.

"Will that make the sword work again?" Lion-o asked, desperate.

"All that matters is defeating the evil inside Ocelth!"

"But what about the sword?"

"You must fix Ocelth!"

"Jaga, wait—"

But it was too late. Jaga had disappeared. Lion-o slammed his fist down. "Damn it!" The image of Wileykit laughing at him in the tower flashed across his mind, which only made him more angry.

"What do you think makes Ocelth so threatening?" Tygra asked. "She seems like a decent, easy-going person. She gave up her weapons easily, submitted to the tests without complaint, and has been very polite and humorous."

"If Jaga says we should be wary of her, then we should. Don't let her fool you." Lion-o said.

"Of course," Tygra replied, nodding, "Cheetara, have you sensed anything from her?"

"Not much, all I can get from her is… sadness."

"Sadness?"

"Yes, sadness. Most of which is rooted in disappointment. She's not here because she wants to be, either. She's here because she feels she has to be. She doesn't have a lot of confidence in us, either. She doesn't distrust us, exactly, but she is somewhat wary of us and is worried about us."

"But how could she know Jaga? She'd have to be a Thundercat!" Lion-o stated.

"Judging by that medallion around her neck, she is—or was." Panthro muttered. Lion-o stood up.

"Tygrasearch through what is left of the historical records we salvaged from the ship for the name Ocelth and a place called Neo-Thundera. Jaga called her a defector, traitor, and rebel. If Jaga says she's a threat, then we need to find out as much about her as possible. Meanwhile, Cheetara, go fetch the Kittens from the tower. I want them to keep an eye on her, make sure she's not up to something. Meanwhile, I'm going to ask around Third Earth about her, see if anyone knows anything."

"Do you think Lion-o sending us out on this mission means he forgives you?"

Wileykit scoffed at her brother. "Forgives me for what? Being honest? Actually having the guts to say what needed to be said? He hit me! He's the one who should want my forgiveness! In fact, I wouldn't even consent to doing this if not for the fact that I was horribly bored at the tower."

Wileykat looked at his sister in amazement. Ever since that day, he had been seeing his sister in a whole new light. Out of the two of them, Kit had always been the more cautious one, so her outburst was completely unexpected. Up until that point, Kat had been completely unaware that his sister had such deep, grim thoughts, so much anger inside her. Kat hadn't realized it before because of the way she acted, but she was actually very unhappy.

He just couldn't figure out how long she had been hiding this from him. He had thought they were supposed to share everything with each other, but she had violated that. It hurt, and he couldn't understand why she had kept it from him. At the moment, he was far more interested in watching his twin than Ocelth.

They were hiding in the bushes outside Cat's Lair, waiting for Ocelth to come out.

"There she is!" Kit whispered, pointing to a figure walking along the bridge. She was dark-haired, with tawny spotted fur, had a tail, was extremely tall, dressed all in green, and carried two swords a well as a bow and arrows.

"What does she need all those weapons for?" Kat whispered.

"Who knows? She's weird." Kit replied, not sounding all that interested. They watched as Ocelth made her way into the woods and followed her from a good distance. Ocelth kept walking for about a mile and the Kittens followed her until she stopped short and turned around.

"You can come out now," she called out, "We've walked far enough to convince the others that you've had some success."

Kat's jaw dropped. How the Hell-?

WileyKit sighed and jumped down from the trees. Not sure what to do, Kat followed her lead. Ocelth stood in front of them, a smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're the Thunderkittens. I'm going to take another wild guess and say Lion-o put you up to this."

"How did you know?" Kat asked.

"Well, you're small humanoid cats, and I can't think of any other reason you'd follow me since up until now we have not met, and Lion-o doesn't trust me."

"We apologize if we offended you." Kit said. Ocelth shook her head.

"Nah, you were just following orders. I actually thought about ignoring you and letting you think I didn't know you were there, but then I realized how boring that would be for you two and the two of you strike me as the types who don't tolerate boredom easily. So if you're going to follow me, then we might as well enjoy a nice conversation while you're doing so. Tygra said your names are WileyKit and WileyKat?"

The Kittens nodded.

"I bet you didn't thank your parents for that one. Mind if I give you nicknames so you sound more like the individuals that you are?"

Kat grinned. "Okay!"

"Alright, WileyKat, you're Little Boots and WileyKit, you're Peep-toe. I know being named based on your footwear isn't the most empowering thing, but I don't know you well enough yet to come up with a better basis. Now come on."

"If you don't mind us asking," Kit sad, "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere really, I'm just trying to figure out the layout of the woods. I bet you two are the perfect people to help me with that, too."

The kittens smiled and nodded.

"How did you know we were there?" Kat asked, "Usually no one can tell."

"Well, I figure Lion-o would have me followed eventually, so I kept my ears, eyes, and nose keen. I could hear you two the second I walked outside. I don't know what you said to him, Peep-toe, but it definitely didn't give Lion-o an excuse to hit you. He strikes me as a very immature person."

"Well, there's a reason for that." Kit replied. She explained about the capsule and Lion-o's real age. Ocelth sighed.

"So what you're saying is, he's a twelve year old in a twenty-two year old's body?"

"Yep."

"And you all just made him your leader."

"Well, he is Lord of the Thundercats!"

"And he is ruling for himself, right? He doesn't have one of the older Thundercats rule for him until he's old and mature enough to lead?"

"No…."

Ocelth groaned. "It's worse than I thought then. No offense, but logic does not seem to be a strong point among you all."

"It's not our fault!" Kit protested. "It's not like we had any say in the matter! And technically, I'm older than he is!"

Ocelth shook her head. "This is what class systems lead to."

"What?" Kat asked.

"Nothing. Never mind."

Suddenly, Ocelth stopped short and stopped the Kittens with her arms.

"What is it, Ocelth?" Kit inquired.

"Shhhh." Ocelth sniffed the air, frowned, and looked at the Kittens. "Are there any mutants on this planet?"

"Yes, but how did you know?"

"I haven't smelled them in over five centuries. They're nearby. Five of them, I think. A toad, two hawks, a wolf, and a fly."

"You can tell their _species_?" Kit said in disbelief.

"Of course."

Suddenly, the sound of laughter reached their ears and the mutants emerged. Just as Ocelth had said, there were five, a toad, two hawks, a wolf, and a fly.

"The Thunderkittens AND a new Thundercat!" The Wolf said, rubbing his hands together in relish. "Slythe will no doubt reward us handsomely when we present him with your heads on a silver platter."

"Just so we're clear, do you intend to kill us or just kidnap us?" Ocelth asked him. The Kittens gave her a weird look.

"Kill you, of course! We're not going to risk you escaping!"

"Okay, just making sure." A second later, the wolf's head was cut off and lying on the ground while the body flailed for a couple of seconds with blood shooting out in spurts.

Everyone but Ocelth was shocked. She used the few seconds that the other mutants were distracted, ran one of the hawks through with a sword and cut off both of the toad's legs. The other hawk charged toward her and she flipped him to the ground then stabbed him in the face with one of her katanas. The fly tried to take to the air, but Ocelth shot him down dead with one of her arrows in under five seconds. She then put the toad out of his amputated misery

The Kittens looked around in shock at the corpses. They were all lying around them, dead. They had never seen such a thing before. Actual dead bodies. None of the Thundercats had ever killed their enemies before, just incapacitated them. Killing them… Just seemed so final.

Kat was so overcome by the smell and the sight of the blood oozing and spurting out of the mutants' bodies, he fainted.

Ocelth looked at the astonished Wileykit. "Your brother has a weak stomach."

It was then that WileyKit realized that there wasn't a smudge, scratch, bruise or cut on her. She hadn't even broken a sweat.

"That was…. I don't know! Why did you kill them?" Kit asked, still marveling at all the bodies.

"Easy, they were hostile forces who helped destroy our planet and explicitly told us that they intended to kill us. So I killed them before they hurt us and now the mutant army is reduced by five. Anyone who intends to kill anybody as young as the two of you are the type for whom death cannot come sooner. I wouldn't have killed them if they had said they were just going to try and kidnap us. I would have just injured and incapacitated them and then taken them prisoner. Trust me, I always make sure before I'm about to kill someone."

"I've never seen so much… blood." Kit said, her voice hoarser than usual.

"Well, it's good that you see it. Even if you're only fighting in self defense, you need to see the real consequences of violence. Otherwise, you become desensitized, then you forget the seriousness and horror of it, and then violence becomes a part of you. You should never forget what it really means." Ocelth told Kit, her voice grave. She walked over to Kat and picked him up.

"Let's head back to the lair, I think you've seen enough for today."

Lion-o sauntered into his bedroom, sat down on his bed, and started taking off his boots. He had met with every community the cats were friendly with on Third Earth. The Robo Bear Berbils and the Warrior Women had encountered her. All they had to say was that she asked for directions, was polite, and that she offered gifts to their respective leaders. Lion-o had asked to see the gifts, and both were seven-pointed star pendants on gold chains. Nothing at all special or different about them. Just simple baubles. There was nothing they could tell him that would indicate who she was or what she was doing there.

There was a knock on his door. "It's Tygra."

"Come in," Lion-o called eagerly. Maybe Tygra had found something.

The Tiger entered Lion-'s room carrying some papers. "Well, I looked through the old records, and what I found was… confusing. I found her name, and the writings that included her were actually some of the few that were not damaged!"

"Excellent! What did you find?" Lion-o asked, excited.

"Well, Panthro was right, she was a Thundercat, but she wasn't just any Thundercat, she was the Queen of Thundera!"

"What?" There had been nothing about her that indicated royalty.

Tygra sat down next to Lion-o. "Queen Ocelth, daughter of King Ocelo and Queen Cheetry, born year 43 of the ninth era. Ascended the throne after her parents' death when she was only four. Precocious and a powerful warrior, considered wise beyond her years by everyone and greatly admired. But then, when she was about sixteen, it says she went mad. She tried to introduce radical, dangerous reforms that would do away with the court of the Thundercats and completely change the Thunderan way of life. She feel in with some radical rebels, and when the Thundercats managed to stop her, she fled the planet with the renegades, taking the left eye of Thundera with her. She is considered a black mark on Thundera's history, a villain of sorts, a tragedy, a traitor, a lunatic, a defector, and a thief."

"I knew it," Lion-o growled. "She's dangerous. Jaga was right."

"The funny thing is, I tried to find some more information on her and some information on the rebels she fell in with or what the reforms she tried to make were, but every time I thought I found a link or found an article heading, when I chose it, a blank page came up. It's like someone wiped the archives clean. What I found on her was hidden under so much stuff and so heavily encrypted… It's like someone wanted to wipe her out of Thundera's history. But why?"

"It was probably her!" Lion-o exclaimed. "She didn't want us to know about her!"

Tygra shook his head. "No, that doesn't make sense. First of all, the data I was able to glean indicates that these wipes were made years and years ago. Second, if she didn't want us to know who she was, why would she tell us her name or show us the Left Eye?"

"But who could have done this?" Lion-o asked. Tygra hesitated.

"Well, the truth is, Lion-o, that the data gave an exact date for when the records were last updated. It was ten years ago, Lion-o, when we were all in stasis aboard the ship. That means the only one who could have done this was-"

"-Jaga."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Sorry about the long wait. I'd make an excuse but I really don't have one. This chapter is really short, but mostly for pacing. Another, longer chapter will come soon. Promise!

Chapter Three:

Lion-o stared at Tygra for a long moment, trying to organize his thoughts. "I don't understand. Why would- why would Jaga delete files like that? Anything that was important about the history of our world has to be preserved! Jaga knew that!"

"Lion-o, I'm sure Jaga had a good reason. I'm just not entirely sure what that reason could be."

"We have to find out about this Ocelth. Obviously, she is not to be trusted. A lunatic, traitor and thief, it said?"

Tygra nodded. "What I don't understand is, if she truly is all these things, why would she tell us who she is? Why not lie?"

"I don't know. We have to find out what it is she did."

All of a sudden, Lion-o's blood went cold. "Tygra! I told the kittens to follow her!"

Tygra looked at him in shock. "We have to find them. Now."

~!~!~!~!~!~

Wileykit could not stop staring at her guest. They had picked up Wileykat and brought him back to the tower, setting him down on the blue sofa in the lounge. Ocelth had proposed they sit in the two armchairs and wait for him to wake. Upon sitting down, she has withdrawn a metal tablet from her pocket and turned it on.

She had been staring down at it for several seconds while Wileykit just gawked at her.

Kit couldn't believe the woman she was looking at had just killed a bunch of mutants. It was just... unbelievable. She had never before in her life seen a person end someone else's life that up close. And yet… She didn't know how exactly she should feel, besides shocked. Those mutants were intending to kill them, and they were evil. It was probably better for everyone that they were gone but… It didn't seem like something a Thundercat should do. She could never imagine Lion-o doing such a thing. Or Cheetara. Or Panthro. Or anyone.

Yet this woman did not seem evil. She didn't seem to be hostile in any way. The way she had done it… She had asked them their intentions upon meeting them and made her decision to kill them based on that. She had seemed so rational about it. As if it were the obvious thing to do. And her reasoning was not exactly unsound, either. In fact, it made perfect sense. But Kit felt guilty in acknowledging that.

Ocelth was so mysterious, Kit didn't know how she should feel about her. She sort of liked her. The way she had sympathized with the kittens and gave them nicknames to treat them like individuals. The way she had been so easy-going about them following her. And she was just cool. There was so much about her that Kit wanted to know.

But at the same time, she knew the others didn't trust Ocelth. And she knew they had good reasons. Some mysterious Thunderean claiming to be centuries old just shows up with another eye of Thundera? It was suspicious. And there was so much Ocelth had not volunteered to explain.

But Kit was understandably feeling rather resentful towards her lord at the moment, so she felt a greater urge to indulge her urge to like the mysterious newcomer.

Ocelth smiled just then. "You want to ask me questions. You are perfectly welcome to do so."

"Where are you from?"

"As I have told you and your friends, I am from a place called Neo-Thundera. It's another planet a few hundred light years from here where numerous Thunderans live."

"Are there…. Are there people my age there?" Kit asked eagerly.

"Yes, numerous people your age. In fact I have three children around your age myself. How old are you, exactly?"

"I'm nearly fourteen."

"I have a daughter your age, a son a year younger and another son who is sixteen."

"Do you rule Neo-Thundera?"

"No. Our society is run by a Senate and two Chancellors, all of whom are elected by the people. I served for a short amount of time as a Senator, but I am no longer a member of the government."

"Then how is it that you have the Left Eye of Thundera?"

"Someone cast a spell on me when I was young so that the eye could not go very far from my person."

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"That's okay, I can keep up."

Ocelth grimaced. "It's not really something I want to talk about at the moment."

Kit dropped the subject. It wouldn't have mattered if she had been persistent anyway, as seconds later Lion-o and Tygra burst into the lounge weapons in hand.

"Wileykit, are you alright?" Tygra said.

"What have you done to Wileykat?" Lion-o demanded, pointing the sword of omens to Ocelth's neck.

Ocelth lifted and finger and lowered the sword with it. "Nothing, we were attacked by mutants."

"It's true," Wileykit said. "Ocelth saved us."

Lion-o was caught. On the one had, she had saved the twins. On the other, she was supposed to be some traitorous lunatic. He also didn't like how dismissively she had pushed his blade down with her fingertips. But still, she _had _saved the twins.

And there was something else, too. Ever since she arrived, the sword had started working again.

Lion-o lowered his blade and to a deep breath. He had to be smart and act in a rational manner. He had to slow down and resist the urge to act on impulse. Just as Cheetara had been teaching him.

"I apologize and I thank you." The Lord of the Thundercats said. "But I am afraid that some information regarding you has come to our attention. Information which-"

"Causes you to distrust me? Well, very well. What have you discovered?"

"The ship's databases speak of a Queen Ocelth who is described by historians as a mad rebel and heretic." Tygra informed her.

She looked heavenward and smiled sadly. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"I don't believe it!" Wileykit said, eager to defend her new friend. She refused to believe that Ocelth, who seemed so elegant, intelligent and kind, was evil. "You're not evil or mad!"

"Well, thank you, Peep-toe. But that doesn't mean the historians are going to record my character faithfully. I'm not evil, of that I am sure. As for being mad, well, I'll admit to possessing more than my fair share of eccentricities, but nothing truly disturbing affects my character. But I will admit to being a rebel."

"What do you mean? What did you do?" Lion-o asked.

"If I tell you, you must give your word as Lord of the Thundercats that you will allow me to explain."

"You have my word as long as you are truthful."

"I promise I will be both frank and honest."

Wileykit looked closely at her new companion. "So, what was it? What did you do?"

"I tried to destroy the Thundercats."


End file.
